Last year’s mass influx of refugees from Syria and Iraq triggered a series of security, social and political troubles throughout Europe, reaching as far as Sweden.

Germany accepted one million refugees in the past year. / Getty Images

But while the refugee numbers have been reduced, major nations such as Germany and Italy face new problems.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision last year to accept as many as one million refugees fleeing from the civil war in Syria and military operations against the Islamic extremist group ISIL in Iraq and Syria has been little short of a disaster for her nation.

There have been numerous attacks against German women, many of which the government tried to cover up. In mid-July an axe wielding attacker injured five on a train near Wurzburg and a week later 15 people were hurt by a suicide blast outside a bar in Ansbach, Bavaria.

Most alarming is a report from Manfred Hauser, deputy head of Bavaria’s spy agency, the Bay LfV, that there are “hit squads” operating in Germany among the ranks of refugees.